Of Lions and Spies
by Shanigh
Summary: A collection of 03xMU drabbles.
1. Habitual

Disclaimer: The authoress does not own _Gundam Wing_. She just enjoys playing with the characters, but she promises that she'll put them back when she's done with them.

**Title: **Habitual  
**Teaser: **Just one look... just in case.  
**Rating: **K  
**Length: **132 words  
**Notes: **And now I get to have infinite fun with my favorite ship in my favorite fandom. Insert fangirl squeeing. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoy writing them. :-) Oh, and they aren't connected in any way, shape or form, so don't expect anything like sequential order.

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It's a habit of his. 

Whenever he sees a flash of blonde hair, even out of the corner of his eye, he can't help casting a quick look in its direction. It's rare that he does more than that; hair the color of hers, so pale as to be almost white, is rare, and, unlike other boys his age, he has little interest in observing the scenery.

He doesn't expect to find her – he doesn't know what he'll do if he does – but he can't help it. It's as instinctual to him now as piloting a mobile suit, and as necessary as breathing.

Just a quick look, he figures, and then he can get back to whatever it is he was doing in the first place. Just one look.

Just in case.


	2. Reason

Disclaimer: I don't own _Gundam Wing_, _Episode Zero_, or any of the characters. I just enjoy messing with their minds.

**Title: **Reason  
**Teaser: **Trowa never did anything without a reason, up to and including working for a circus.  
**Rating: **T  
**Length: **257 words  
**Notes: **Yes, I _do_ think that Trowa would have nightmares. All of the pilots would. You can't survive what they went through without _some_ after effect, even if they _are_ super-kick-ass-strong Gundam pilots.

* * *

Midii never would have expected that Trowa would get nightmares. He was so good at masking his emotions, and he killed with such efficient ease, that for the longest time she had thought he felt nothing at the deaths he had caused. 

She knows better now. Knows _him_ better. She hears him, late at night, when he whimpers in sleep's unguarded spell, and she's always sure to hold him tightly, silently letting him know that he's not alone anymore. And she's always there for him, when he wakes at night biting back a scream of pain and fear and sorrow.

The ex-spy certainly knows what it's like to have nightmares. Trowa isn't the only one to have survived horrors, after all. She, too, dreams of war, of the blood and death and fire that had been brought about by her actions. She isn't nearly as proficient as he when it comes to stifling her screams, but she always feels better upon waking in his arms.

They had talked about it, once. (Or, rather, she had talked, and he had listened, for he rarely speaks unless he has something to say.) When she had finished, he had nodded, then spoken.

"I think that's half the reason why I perform. Every time I can make someone in the audience laugh, or even just be happy, it makes the nightmares a little easier to live with."

She had looked at him thoughtfully. "What's the other half?"

Shrugging, he replied, "It's fun."

She had joined his troupe the very next day.


	3. A Good Show

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Never have. Never will.

* * *

**Title: **A Good Show  
**Teaser: **Old habits die hard, but they find that they don't really mind when the dam finally breaks.  
**Rating: **K+  
**Length:** 272 words  
**Notes: **Um... Sap. What else can I say? (...Well, okay, as sap goes I suppose I've seen worse. But it's still sap.) Oh, and I seem to be enamored with quasi-run-on sentences of late. Apologies.

* * *

They are hesitant about each other, at first. He remembers well how they had last parted, and though he forgives her for her sins – for it is hard to condemn something done in family's name now that he knows what _family_ really is – he still finds it difficult to trust her. For her part, she knows of and understands his feelings, and she is careful not to press him. She knows what he can do, how easy it would be for him to harm, even kill her if he were to feel at all threatened. 

And so they tread lightly about each other, watching and waiting, mentioning the past only when necessary.

Their first kiss is like a dam being broken. She is visiting him (his travels with the circus make it difficult for him to meet her at her home, so, whenever he is near, she leaves her brothers, who are now old enough to look after themselves, and joins him until the troupe moves on), and, all of a sudden, without any planning, it happens. The thousand emotions, both good and bad, that flow between them silently communicate everything they had ever wanted to say, and when they part they find that no further words are needed.

He kisses her again, and they lose themselves in each other. Time seems to stop, and suddenly they are the only beings in the world.

And then someone claps, and someone else whistles, and they remember that they are standing in the middle of the circus green, surrounded by people whose livelihoods depend on their ability to find and appreciate a good show.


	4. Internal

Disclaimer: (points wordlessly at the world _fanfiction_ in the url)

* * *

**Title: **Internal

**Teaser: **Nanashi suffers through an internal debate and tries to understand his actions.  
**Rating: **K+  
**Length: **130 words  
**Notes: **As should be blatantly obvious, this takes place at the tail end of _Episode Zero_. Don't mind me if I don't have much to say... I'm in a "blah" mood right now. (sigh)

* * *

He couldn't kill her. 

It didn't make sense. Why couldn't he pull the trigger? He'd never been unable to before. Countless men had died by his had. Why was she different?

Damn it! Just squeeze the trigger! She deserved it! Just kill her! Just...

At the last possible second, his hand jerked, almost against his will. The shot ran out, blowing a smoking hole in the cross she had given him, lying there so innocently on the ground. Another shot destroyed the "game" console that lay beside it.

Many years later, he will finally understand what exactly stopped him that day on the battlefield. At the time, however, all he could do was turn away from her, trying to figure out why there was a sudden emptiness in his heart.


	5. The Watcher

Disclaimer: Not mine.

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**Title: **The Watcher  
**Teaser: **She had always enjoyed watching him, even when they were children. It's not so different now, really.  
**Rating: **K+  
**Length: **134 words  
**Notes: **Egads! Stalker!Midii? Where did _that_ come from? Woe is me, a slave to my plotbunnies. :( That being said, for some reason I really enjoy the idea. I don't know if it came out right on paper, and the last line is awful, but oh well, I tried.

* * *

He knew she was following him. She knew it. More importantly, he _knew_ that she knew it. She also knew that he wouldn't call her on it. He would watch, only, unless she threatened him. It wasn't his style to attack anyone who wasn't an enemy. 

He probably knew who she was, too. She wouldn't put it past him. That being the case, it was a testament to his character that she wasn't dead already.

Of course, he hadn't killed her then, either.

Smiling, she shook her head at her own folly. _God, I still love him._

She wouldn't give him a reason to call her Enemy. Not this time. She had been content to watch him when they were children. She was content to watch him now.

'Til the end of her days.


	6. Conversation

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

* * *

**Title: **Conversation  
**Teaser: **It's amazing how simple words can ease a lifetime of pain.  
**Rating: **K+  
**Length: **107 words  
**Notes: **Yes, yes, I know, my titles really suck. But here, let's try something new. You get to imagine whatever you want behind this scene! All right, yeah, I'll stop sounding like a cheesy game show host now. But honestly, the nice thing about a story (if this can really be called a "story" – pity it's so short, but it wouldn't work any longer) made entirely of dialogue is that you can decide on a situation all your own to go behind it. It doesn't have to match mine. What do _you_ think?

* * *

"What is it?" 

"Nothing. It's just... you remind me very much of someone I used to know."

"...Oh?"

"Yes. Only he had no name, and would probably as soon shoot me as look at me."

"...What did you do to him?"

"I betrayed his trust."

"I'm sure you had a good reason."

"Oh, I did. A very good one. But that's no excuse. And if I had to do it again, I would, but I'd have to kill just as much of me to do it."

"...I'm sure he forgives you, wherever he is."

"...Thank you, Mr. Barton. It means a lot to hear you say that."


	7. Only You

Disclaimer: If I owned these characters, I would be able to spend my life writing for them, and thus this would be updated much more often. But I don't, and its not, and life goes on. I think.

* * *

**Title: **Only You  
**Teaser: **"Beasts only bear their fangs at enemies. They're true to their feelings."  
**Rating: **T  
**Length: **267 words  
**Notes: **One minor OC in this one. I usually hate including an OC, and considered not even naming her. But that didn't sit right, for some reason, and so I hope you don't mind.

* * *

The first time Nadia's father left her in the lion's cage, she was too young to remember it, but she's heard the story so many times she feels as if she can.

It was her mother's first performance after taking a maternity leave from the circus. She, Papa, and Aunt Cathy were all too busy to watch the little girl, and Maman had been frantic to find a babysitter. Papa had taken her hands in his, kissed her gently, and said, "Relax. I have an idea. You get ready for the show; leave Nadia to me."

Maman had agreed. When she found out what her husband's idea had been, however, the blood drained from her face, and she ran like a madwoman to the tent where the animals were kept.

Upon her arrival, she had found, to her great surprise, that her daughter had not, in fact, been mauled by wild beasts. The baby girl was curled up with three sleeping lion cubs. Their drowsy mother had lifted her great leonine head and released a soft growl, warning the woman not to harm _any_ of her cubs.

A pair of arms had surrounded Maman's waist, and she had leaned back into Papa's embrace. "See, Midii?" he had said. "She'll look after our daughter as if she were her own. There's no safer babysitter in the world." He had kissed Maman's neck, then said, "Now come on. You're on in five."

Maman has shaken her head as she followed him out of the tent. "Only you, Trowa," she had said, her voice half exasperated, half amused. "Only you."


End file.
